KING BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ

AGE: 79
OCCUPATION: Constitutional monarchNUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 2
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0

PRO: Oversaw Thailand's transition to democracy and is hugely popular in his country, where he is revered as a virtual god. Is the longest-serving monarch in the world.

CON: Not well known outside Thailand, but inside Thailand it remains a crime to insult or merely criticize him in any way, though in a 2005 speech the King announced that he was not above criticism and asked for citizen feedback.